BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 13. THOUGH the U.S. Olympic Committee is remaining quiet, a report in the Boston Globe today lists four cities that are on the shortlist for consideration as the official American candidate city for the bid to host the 2024 Olympics.

Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., are the four cities still in the running, according to a source within the USOC that spoke to the Boston Globe on condition of anonymity. San Diego and Dallas had been part of the conversation, but the report indicates that those cities are out of the running.

The USOC held a board meeting on Tuesday in Boston, which the organization said had no bearing on Boston’s status as a potential candidate city during a conference call with the press that day. The USOC said during the conference call that the number of cities had been whittled down, but did not name the cities in contention.

Los Angeles is the only city in the reported shortlist to have Olympic hosting experience. The second-largest U.S. city hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984, both with rousing success. The 1984 Games was notable for the boycott of the Eastern Bloc countries as a response to the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.

San Francisco was a possibility for hosting the 2012 Olympics, but lost out to New York City as the official candidate bid. Boston and Washington, D.C., will be entering their first forays into bidding to host the Olympics.

Los Angeles might be viewed as the frontrunner for the USOC because of its abundance of existing sport venues. In aquatics, for example, the pools that hosted the 1932 and 1984 swimming events are still in existence, with the 1984 venue getting a multimillion-dollar upgrade this year. The 1932 venue might be a viable water polo and synchronized swimming facility.

Los Angeles’ previous hosting duties could also be seen as a mark against it, as the International Olympic Committee just awarded London its third shot at hosting the Olympics for 2012, and is giving it to Tokyo in 2020 for its second time. Many have speculated that the 2024 Games would go to a first-time city.

The other three cities fall short in terms of existing aquatics facilities of Olympic scope, but could present sketches of a new center that would likely boost aquatic participation in either city.

Though the USOC has not made an official announcement on the shortlist, the organization plans to name the official candidate city in the next 12 months. The IOC will name the host of the 2024 Summer Olympics in 2017. Other cities interested in hosting include previous hosts Rome, Paris and Berlin. Hamburg, Germany, is also a reported city interested in the hosting gig.

Author: Jeff Commings

Jeff Commings is the Senior Writer for SwimmingWorld.com and Swimming World Magazine. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and was a nine-time NCAA All-American.